


the boy in the flower shop

by peachcandykiddo



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Flower Shop, Flowers, Getting to Know Each Other, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, M/M, Mental Health Issues, tw for light discussion of suicide/self harm
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-02
Updated: 2019-12-24
Packaged: 2020-11-22 03:42:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 10,970
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20867630
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/peachcandykiddo/pseuds/peachcandykiddo
Summary: kei had always found it interesting how just one person could change a life so much. but time and time again he finds it happening to him, people coming into his life and changing the way he sees the world. at the end of his first year of high school, he begins speaking to the clerk at a flower shop near the school, a boy by the name of yamaguchi tadashi. from there the two grow closer and closer, and before long tsukishima kei has a boyfriend and a slew of new problems that arise. and though he doesn't deal with them in the most graceful manner, he has his boyfriend by his side to help him out and honestly, that's enough.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [The Boy In the Flower Shop](https://archiveofourown.org/works/14901617) by [peachcandykiddo](https://archiveofourown.org/users/peachcandykiddo/pseuds/peachcandykiddo). 

kei had always kind of hated mother’s day.

sure, he supposed the idea of the day made sense. for most people it was nice, but kei had his reasons.

it wasn’t like his situation was necessarily terrible, there were definitely people who had it worse. but it wasn’t great either. kei figured the fact that he had to hide his entire life from his mother was an indication that she could do better.

so for kei, mother’s day was dumb. why spend money on someone who had never cared about him or his brother?

however, kei got her a gift anyways. he did every year.

better to be down some pocket change than to be on the receiving end of one of her rants about how underappreciated she was. for doing all the work around the house even though kei was coming up on seventeen and pretty much took care of himself anyways.

so, when he was on his way home from school on the day before mother’s day and still had no gift simply because he hadn’t cared enough to remember kei ducked into the first flower shop he could find.

from the outside, the place looked quite small. it was a little blue storefront with large windows and a sign that read _ yamaguchi greenhouses _above the door. 

but inside, the shop was spacious. it was by no means huge, but space was managed in a way that kept the shop full of greenery feeling cozy instead of cramped.

it took a moment, but after kei walked into the shop a kid about his age popped out from behind one of the plant filled benches, likely summoned by the little bell on the door.

“hey, how are you doing today?”

there were a lot of things about the kid that grabbed kei’s attention right away, but mostly the fact that he was really _ really _pretty.

an odd way to describe a guy, but somehow fitting.

the boy had a gentle face, with soft features covered in a scattering of freckles and framed with dark, messy bangs.

“oh, i’m uh, i’m good i guess,” kei quickly realized he was staring and scrambled to make an attempt at playing it cool, “i’m looking for a gift for my mom, for mother’s day.”

“wow,” the kid gave kei a stupid cheeky grin, “i think that is the most, _ last minute, _i’ve ever had someone come in for a gift.”

kei could feel his cheeks being to grow warm at the teasing, and tried to make an excuse for himself to maybe seem like a better son, “yea, i got busy with volleyball i guess. i haven’t really had time to stop somewhere.

at the mention of volleyball, the kid’s face lit up with a grin and all conversation of a gift was thrown out the window, “oh! i knew i recognized you from somewhere! you play for karasuno, right?”

the kid’s comment left kei a bit stunned. being recognized outside of volleyball tournaments was something he was _ definitely _not used to.

“sorry, sorry,” the kid quickly apologized, “that sounded really weird. i’m planning on karasuno next year, so i watched all of your matches.”

“oh, really?” at this kei kind of forgot about the akwardness of being recognized. now he was curious, “what middle school do you go to?"

“i don’t, next year’s going to be my second year of high school. i’m in online right now.”

“oh."

kei paused, unsure of how to respond.

“yea,” the kid nodded, rolling up his sleeves as he spoke, “i was gonna go this year but something camp up and my dad pulled me out of school.”

it was as kei caught a glimpse of the kid’s forearms that he saw what looked to be the something that came up. 

the scars on his forearms were only briefly visible, quickly covered when he crossed his arms but kei saw them anyways. he wasn’t going to mention them though. it was none of his business.

“anyways, did you have any sort of price in mind?”

the break from small-talk couldn’t have come any sooner. kei hated idle conversation, he never knew quite what to say.

“uh, something small i guess? i’m a little low on money right now.”

that didn’t mean that kei didn’t like talking to the kid though.

“any colors in mind?”

“purple i guess?”

kei threw out the first color that came to mind, he figured his mom wouldn’t care about the color. she barely cared about the gift itself.

“ok, i can do that! give me one second,” with that, the kid disappeared off to somewhere in the back of the shop, where he was obscured by the greenery. but he didn’t leave before flashing kei a quick grin.

kei thought that he sure seemed happy for someone who did to himself what he did — he wondered how much the kid was faking.

ut he quickly pushed that thought away, as far as he could. it wasn’t kei’s place to worry about that.

⚘ ⚘ ⚘

tadashi’s brain was in meltdown mode.

he was hiding behind the back benches of the shop, pretending to look for the purple flowers that he knew the exact location of because _ jesus _ tsukishima was _ way _cuter in person, with scruffy hair that needed to be cut and glasses that sat slightly askew on his face, frames bent like they had been broken before.

sure, of course plenty of cute guys like tsukishima came into the shop, looking for flowers for their girlfriends and such. but this was different because this wasn’t some cute straight guy who he’d never see again this was someone who he would be going to school with in a few months. someone who he would see _ every day _.

tadashi felt like he had been making a complete fool of himself the whole time.

but he plastered a smile on his face, grabbed some of the flowers from the bench and headed back to the front of the shop where tsukishima was waiting.

“are you gonna want like, a pot or something?” tadashi questioned, handing tsukishima the flowers he held in his hands, “there’s holes in the bottom of that, so it’ll get dirt everywhere.”

at his comment tsukishima tipped the plastic container over, examining the bottom like he didn’t believe tadashi.

“i’m not trying to get more money out of you y’know,” tadashi looked up at tsukishima as he righted the container of flowers once more, “it will get dirt everywhere, and you’ll never be free of it again.”

“i know,” tsukishima seemed almost embarrassed by tadashi’s comment, “how much?"

“not much,” tadashi shrugged, he didn’t know the exact price off the top of his head.

“sure i guess.”

“ok, let me grab one for you.”

tadashi once again was given an escape to take a breath as he ducked behind the counter for one of their small ceramic pots.

after a moment and a deep breath, tadashi stood back up to see tsukishima digging for something in his pocket.

after a moment he pulled out a wallet from his pocket and looked back to tadashi, “how much?”

before tsukishima even asked his question tadashi was punching numbers into the register, and as soon as the total appeared he read the numbers off.

tsukishima handed tadashi the money, and with a quick thanks tsukishima took the flowers and left, leaving his last words playing on loop in tadashi’s head. 

“thanks, you’re a life saver.”

⚘ ⚘ ⚘

the next day was just the same as every other day, tadashi did his school work, studied for entrance exams, and then he took over for his dad in running the storefront.

so far, it was a pretty good day for the shop.

the flow of customers was good, but not overwhelming, and tadashi was on his feet most of the time helping people find what they needed. this was nice because it gave him an excuse to avoid studying more. as helpful as it was, he got really bored of it.

he was standing in one of the aisles half-listening to a middle-aged woman explain her lift story as she attempted to decide between hanging baskets (which happened more often than tadashi would have liked it to) when the bell on the door chimed.

without a moment’s hesitation tadashi excused himself from the conversation, and left before she could rope him back in.

as he made the short walk to the front of the shop tadashi pulled a hair pin out of his pocket to pull his bangs out of his face since it was getting warm. it was late spring after all, and the shop was prone to heat and humidity.

however, as he saw who was standing near the entrance he regretted doing that because he looked really dumb with his hair like that.

with most people tadashi really couldn’t have cared less, but with him—

but tadashi pushed the self-doubt away and smiled at tsukishima, “hey, you’re back.”

tsukishima nodded, and shoved his hands in his pockets, “yea, i just wanted to tell you that my mom really liked the gift. thanks again.”

“i’m happy she liked them,” tadashi grinned as he responded, it almost felt like a reflex at that point, “and it’s really no problem, i’m just doing what my dad pays me to do.”

tsukishima nodded, and tadashi thought he saw a smile on his face if only for just a second. he looked nice with a smile.

“and i never caught your name.”

⚘ ⚘ ⚘

“well, i never threw it,” the kid responded with a teasing grin that perfectly matched his quick and witty response.

kei found himself laughing despite himself, “would you mind throwing it?”

“yea, it’s tadashi — yamaguchi.”

yamaguchi’s laugh as he responded melted his heart.

it was soft and gently and bubbly and made kei feel warm and happy from the inside out.

as he was listening to yamaguchi’s wonderful laugh, kei heard a gentle chime from his pocket, most likely his mom texting him.

“well, i should probably head back home, i’ve gotta study for exams,” he knew if whoever was texting him was his mom she wanted him home now. telling yamaguchi she liked the flowers was an excuse to see him again, she hadn’t told him anything of the sort, “it was nice talking again.”

“actually,” yamaguchi interrupted kei as he turned to leave, so kei turned back once more to face him, “i could use a study partner — if you don’t mind. not right this second, obviously, but sometime i’m not working—”

“yea, that sounds good to me, i could use someone to study with,” kei cut yamaguchi off at that — he could tell he was going to keep going otherwise, “i can give you my number or something, so you can let me know when you’re free. i pretty much have no life outside of volleyball, so if it’s after practice i’m good.”

“i— uh—” yamaguchi paused for a moment, “yea, that sounds good.”

he then pulled his phone out of his apron and unlocked it, “what’s your number?”

kei slowly recited the digits for yamaguchi, and then his phone chimed in his pocket once more.

this time the message was from an unknown number, and it was of a dumb little face made from text symbols of something winking.

he smiled to himself as he opened the notification — it was kind of cute.

after opening the empty chat with nothing but the winking face, kei turned his phone to show yamaguchi, “this you?”

yamaguchi nodded and smiled, “yep, that’s me.”

kei nodded and put his phone back in his pocket, “i do really have to get going now though.”

“yea, i’ll talk to you later?”

kei nodded once more, and as he turned to leave he gave yamaguchi a quick wave good-bye, “yea, see ya.”

later when he got home, kei spent fifteen minutes trying to decide what he should make yamaguchi’s contact name in his phone.

he eventually made a a decision, and later that night when he got a text from ‘tadashi (｡•̀ᴗ-)✧’ he couldn’t help but smile.

⚘ ⚘ ⚘

“oh my god kei _ shut up.” _

the next day, kei told hitoka about everything with yamaguchi over lunch.

his friend was quick to tease him about his dumb infatuation, and remind him of how he was so lucky to be close to yamaguchi through the form of complaining very loudly.

her girlfriend had already graduated and moved away — so she was frustrated.

“nobody wants to hear about your dumb boyfriend who lives a ten minute walk from your house.”

kei knew that hitoka wasn’t actually mad at him — she was just like that. they were like that.

“he’s not my boyfriend yet—!” kei could feel his cheeks growing warm as he responded and jabbed back at hitoka, “plus you’re the one who has a cute college girlfriend. so _ you _can shut up.”

“you’re not even into chicks! why are you jealous of my girlfriend?”

“because you have a person.”

“well you _ could _have a person if you grew a pair and asked him.”

“i met him two days ago hitoka—!” kei argued against his friend with a laugh, “i can’t just ask him out that’s weird—”

“then you’ll just die sad and alone i guess,” hitoka shrugged and stood up, grabbing her backpack from the seat beside her, “but not before you quiz me on my english vocab, we’re probably getting another study hour today.”

as she neared the end of her sentence, hitoka began to head back to the entrance of the school, and kei followed.

together the pair headed back to their classroom — sinking into their desks in the air conditioning with a sigh of relief.

it wasn’t like they were doing anything that required effort during lunch, but it was hot and humid so even just sitting in the courtyard left them sweaty.

a few minutes later, after their teacher started class, kei turned around in his desk to face hitoka and readied himself for a long class period of talking and barely studying.

⚘ ⚘ ⚘

kei was nervous. 

he couldn’t admit that for a lot of things, but for this he had no problem with it because yamaguchi would be the first guy — first person really — he had ever asked out himself.

so it wasn’t a dumb irrational thing for once, it actually made sense.

his one girlfriend in first year had asked him out — and then been the one to end it because he was ‘distant’.

kei wasn’t emotionally frozen like she convinced her friends and most of the school he was, he was just gay.

so now he was asking someone out who he was actually interested in having a relationship with and he was _ terrified. _

he supposed it wasn’t _ that _ big of a deal if yamaguchi rejected him — they had only known each other for a few weeks at that point and their interactions were limited to occassional study sessions — but he really wanted to get to know yamaguchi better.

and he didn’t want to regret not taking a chance when he had it.

so he took a deep breath, and pushed the door to the flower shop open.

yamaguchi didn’t make an appeareance from behind one of the aisles of flowers right away — so kei assumed he was helping a customer out somewhere else. it wasn’t like that was an uncommon situation.

so he stood and waited by the counter, messing with the tape on his fingers from volleyball that day, looking at the flowers around the shop.

then a man he didn’t recognize stepped into view.

“is there anything i can help you with?”

the man was of fairly average height — maybe a bit shorter than kei — and had a sturdily built frame. he wore a pair of rounded glasses, and his cheeks were dotted with faint freckles

he clearly worked there — his uniform was the same as what yamaguchi wore whenever he was on the clock — but kei didn’t recognize him.

“i’m uh,” kei paused for a moment, feeling awkward, “i’m looking or yamaguchi — uh, tadashi.”

the man simply smiled, “oh, are you tsukishima?”

kei nodded, more confused now than uncomfortable, “i am, yea.”

“tadashi’s talked a lot about you,” the man extended his hand towards kei as he spoke, “i’m tadashi’s dad.”

kei took his hand and wasted no time in shaking it so he could shove his hands back into his pockets afterwards, “nice to meet you.”

“same to you,” yamaguchi’s dad smiled and as he did kei was beginning to see the resemblance, “tadashi’s upstairs — he had a rough night so he might still be asleep. you can go ahead and check the room all the way at the end on the left.”

kei nodded, and headed towards the door behind the counter, “thanks.”

he pulled the door open and then shut it behind him as he slipped off his sneakers at the foot of the stairs.

stepping carefully up the stairs, kei was beginning to question if now was a good time to ask him out.

yamaguchi’s dad had said that yamaguchi had a rough night.

kei knew that he wouldn’t want someone asking him out on a date after that.

when he reached the top of the stairs, kei was greeted by a small, cozy apartment. it was quite similar to the shop blow in this way, small but not smothering.

the lighting in the apartment was dim, the only light source being the natural sunlight seeping in from the window at the far end of the apartment.

he felt awkward there, like he was intruding, though he supposed he kind of was doing just that. kei headed towards the window, following the instructions he had been given.

the door which kei assumed to being to the room he was directed to was open just a bit, and as kei got close he nudged it open further with his foot.

as he stepped into the room, kei looked towards the bed that sat in the center, and more importantly the book that hid a freckled face behind it on one side of the bed.”

he lingered there in the doorway for a few moments without speaking — still feeling like an intruder, “uh, hey.”

as soon as kei spoke yamaguchi was quick to hide his face under his book with a sigh, “oh god, why are you here? i look awful, i’m totally a mess.”

kei couldn’t help but chuckle slightly at his dramatic reaction, “i don’t mind.”

“yea, but i do,” yamaguchi whined, keeping the book pressed firmly to his face, “at least turn around so i can put my hair up.”

“fair enough,” as he spoke kei promptly turned around, respecting yamaguchi’s wishes.

“thank you.”

yamaguchi fell quiet for a moment as he was putting his hair up, and kei didn’t dare speak. he still felt _ really _weird.

“okay, you’re good.”

kei turned around— for once not pushing away the smile that appeared on his face.

“you know, you don’t look half-bad when you actually smile instead of being all grumpy all the time.”

at yamaguchi’s comment, kei fought the urge to smile more and isntead forced a blank expression.

“damn, it’s gone.”

“sorry to disappoint you.”

kei couldn’t help but notice just how exhuasted yamaguchi looked and sounded. he seemed almost dead. 

his hair was a half-tanlged mess tied back into what might have been a messy bun and he wore a t shirt that looked like it was at least two sizes too big so it hung loosely off of his shoulders.

then there was his face — which honestly made kei hurt. tadashi looked miserable.

he was smiling, but it was so forced. his eyes were missing their usual spark, and even the smile was beginning to falter. and under her eyes, there were dark circles so prominent they almost gave tadashi the appearance of a tired raccoon.

frowning — mostly to himself — kei walked over to sit down on the side of the bed yamaguchi wasn’t laying on, “are you okay? your dad said you had a rough night.”

at this tadashi completely dropped his act and let the smile fade from his face, “i’m alright now. just… tired. i’m going off my sleep meds and couldn’t get to sleep last night and i just kind of, spiraled i guess.”

“it may sound like a big deal but its really not,” tadashi continued, “dad always exaggerates.”

“is—” kei paused for a second, considering how exactly he wanted to word his question, “is there anything i can do to help you out?”

tadashi just shrugged, and laughed. gently and genuinely this time.

“i could really use a nap.”

“do you—” kei paused as he watched tadashi stretch his arms out and yawn, “do you want me to go? so you can sleep.”

“nah,” tadashi simply shook his head and burrowed back under the covers, moving closer to the bed’s center. close to kei, “you’re good right here.”

after a moment’s hesitation, kei swung his legs up onto the bed and leaned back against the pillows. the whole thing already felt quite personal intimate — and then kei accidentally went and made it more so.

before he was even aware of the thought in his head, kei was reach out his hand to brush tadashi’s bangs from his face.

somehow tadashi’s hair felt exactly how kei had imagined it would. it was soft, and thick, and fluffy, and kei just wanted to run his fingers through it forever.

so, as gently as he could, kei slid the elastic out of tadashi’s hair to undo the messy bun that it was in. then he sank back further into the pillows and ran his fingers through tadashi’s hair until he could feel his eyelids getting heavy and everything faded to black as he fell asleep.


	2. Chapter 2

tadashi woke up as he had fallen asleep — with tsukishima’s fingers in his hair and really,  _ incredibly,  _ happy.

he was weighed down by blankets, half tucked into tsukishima’s side. it was warm. 

really warm.

and now… he actually managed to feel rested.

tadashi felt warm from the inside out, and tired in the best way.

so he didn’t fight it as he drifted back off to sleep, because for the first time that day he felt happy.

⚘ ⚘ ⚘

when kei finally woke up after being passed out for god knows how long, it was to the sound of his phone ringing in his pocket. startled, he sat up as fast as he could and pulled his phone out of his pocket, silencing it immediately to avoid waking tadashi.

“shit, what’s with the call tetsurou?” kei hissed into the phone, glancing towards tadashi’s sleeping face.

_ god, tadashi really was cute. _

kei shook off the thought as fast as it came on — that wasn’t what he was worried about right now. as cute and peaceful as tadashi looked at the moment — his first priority was making sure he was alright.

“what’s with the whisper?” kuroo jabbed back, a playful edge in his voice, “wanted to make sure you’re set for saturday. have you asked your guy yet?”

“well, no.”

“he’s uh,” kei paused for a moment and looked over at tadashi, “he’s asleep right now.”

“oh my god,” kuroo yelled into the phone, leaving kei flinching and instinctively pulling the device away from his ear, “what the fuck did you do?”

“nothing, nothing!” kei quickly jumped to defend himself in a low whisper, “calm your tits tetsu!”

“okay, well you make it pretty damn easy to assume things when you refuse to speak above a whisper and then say shit like  _ ‘he’s asleep right now’ _ you fucking idiot,” kuroo argued further, and kei couldn’t help but laugh.

“yea, i guess,” he shrugged and reached over to brush tadashi’s bangs from his face once more, “i guess i don’t really have the best track record with that stuff either.”

“yea, no shit.”

“i went over to ask him, i wanted to do it in person,” kei mumbled, “but his dad said he had a rough night last night so… i figured i’d wait.”

kuroo was quiet for a moment — they both were.

“good call."

kei simply nodded, “yea.”

“y’know kei,” kuroo continued, “you might not be a complete dick after all. you’re almost kind of sweet.”

“oh, fuck off.”

“there’s my kei.”

⚘ ⚘ ⚘

“so, i asked him out.”

kei was sitting with hitoka in her living room the day after, laying on the floor and playing mario kart. before kei even had a chance to brace himself his ears were being destroyed by hitoka’s loud, shrill voice.

“oh my god, really?”

all thoughts of the game were thrown out the window — and hitoka’s controller was thrown out of her hands, “you have to tell me everything! give me the details!”

“what details? there are none!” kei spluttered, pausing the game and dropping his controller as hitoka weaseled her way into his personal space, “i just asked if he wanted to get lunch and go play volleyball with tetsu and some of the other guys. it’s not really a big deal!”

“but kei!” hitoka carried on, “this  _ is  _ a big deal! this is your first real boyfriend!”

“i’m sure tetsu would really appreciate you forgetting about him,” kei chuckled, trying to steer the subject away from ‘first boyfriend’ and dramatic stuff like that. it added too much pressure to what was happening with tadashi.

“that doesn’t count, you made out with him at training camps you weren’t dating,” however, hitoka wasn’t easily deterred and brushed off kei’s comment with ease, “i can’t believe you’re finally growing up!"

“ugh, hitoka you’re not even a month older than me, screw off!” kei laughed and shoved her, probably a bit more roughly than he should have, but hitoka didn’t care. she laughed it off, unbothered.

“twenty-three days is plenty older!”

“still not that much,” kei grinned and pushed himself to his feet in response to the sound of his phone ringing on the couch behind them. “that’s probably my mom, i should get going.”

“alright,” hitoka grinned and picked her controller up off the ground, “see ya later kei!”

he nodded and waved to her as he pulled the door to the apartment shut behind him, “see ya hitoka.”

“what do you need mom?”

as soon as he left the apartment, kei pulled his phone out of his pocket to answer his mother’s excessive calls.

“where are you?”

his mom sounded pissed. this was nothing new.

“i’m on my way home from hitoka’s mom. i’ll be home soon — i have to pick up some homework from a classmate.”

that last part was a complete lie. he just didn’t want to go home and be near his mom quite yet.

“hurry up,” was all his mom said before she hung up the phone — leaving kei with the dial tone in his ears. she was  _ always  _ like that. it pissed kei off. so critical and overbearing, yet, somehow at the same time she managed to not care about kei’s life at all.

she was so involved and concerned about what he was doing at any point in time — but she didn’t know anything.

⚘ ⚘ ⚘

it was saturday morning and tadashi was awake at six in the morning because he was too excited to sleep.

so instead he was at the stove with flour all over his face and hands somehow — he wasn’t quite sure how it had happened — making breakfast for himself and his dad.

he was making pancakes, but he had forgotten how much of a mess flour made if one simply breathed too hard.

though the mess was also partially due to him being so jittery and excited he was careless with the heaping cups of flour in his hands and spilling them.

a few days ago — the day after tsukishima had stopped by — tadashi got a text from him asking if he wanted to go out to lunch and play volleyball with some other guys. of course, tadashi said yes, and saturday was the one thing he had been looking forward to all week.

now, it wasn’t like tadashi had known tsukishima for very long, or had particularly strong feelings for him or anything. but he definitely felt like he could.

the other guy was cute — and he was nice. at least after getting past his spiky outer shell.

and since that time tsukishima had stopped by and just… sat there with tadashi when he wasn’t having a good day — he felt some sort of a… special bond with tsukishima.

as dumb and cheesy at it sounded — it made tadashi wince just thinking the words — it was kind of true.

really, if he thought about it, being in love with tsukishima kei didn’t sound too bad.

“morning kiddo.”

tadashi was pulled from his thoughts of tsukishima by the sound of his dad’s voice behind him.

“morning dad.”

“what are you making?” his dad leaned on the counter as tadashi turned around to flip a pancake onto his dad’s plate, “oh, pancakes! chef tadashi’s famous recipe?”

tadashi smiled to himself and laughed as his dad pulled the plate towards him, “just flour and water dad, not quite a famous recipe.”

“i mean, sounds like a pretty famous recipe to me,” his dad shrugged, “it’s the most widely used, is it not?”

“yea i guess.”

“how did you sleep last night?”

tadashi simply shrugged, turning around to extinguish the stovetop’s flames, “alright i guess.”

“oh i’m sorry kid,” his dad frowned, “what time did you get to sleep?”

tadashi stared at the countertop for a moment, trying to recall what time he  _ had  _ gone to bed, “i dunno. midnight maybe?”

“oh, that’s not too bad,” his dad mumbled in between bites of ‘chef tadashi’s famous pancakes’, “you ready for today? big first date.”

smiling to himself, ignoring the heat rising in his cheeks, tadashi nodded, “yea, i haven’t played volleyball in a while. it’ll be fun.”

⚘ ⚘ ⚘

when it was finally time to leave — tadashi was running around his apartment trying to find his kneepads.

“tadashi!” he was digging through his sock drawer when his dad called up the stairs for him, “tsukishima is here!”

“yea, i’m coming!” tadashi yelled back, pulling his finally located kneepads from the drawer and shoving them in his backpack. grabbing a couple of hair ties from his desk, tadashi ran out of his room, tossing his backpack over his shoulders and loosening the straps just a bit.

careful not to slip, tadashi jogged down the stairs, tying his hair up and out of his face as he did so.

finally, tadashi pushed open the door at the bottom of the stairs, shoving his feet into his sneakers.

“hey, sorry,” he apologized and smiled towards tsukishima who was standing in the middle of the shop talking to tadashi’s dad.

“it’s no problem,” tsukishima quickly turned to face tadashi, almost as if he was thankful for the interruption.

“you sure?”

“yea,” tsukishima nodded, “it’s fine.”

“okay i guess,” tadashi still felt bad for making him wait though, “let’s get going.”

tsukishima nodded again, and stepped aside as tadashi leaned in to give his dad a huge, “love you dad, i’ll be back soon.”

his dad returned the embrace and i love you, tadashi grabbed his volleyball from where it sat next to the checkout counter, and then he was out the door and on his way with tsukishima.

now that they were out of the shop — tadashi could tell that tsukishima was starting to relax.

“does your dad know this is a date?”

after a few quiet moments tsukishima broke the heavy silence with a question.

tadashi simply shrugged, “yea, why do you ask?”

“i just felt like he was plotting fifty different ways to kill me and hide the body earlier,” tsukishima chuckled — his laugh gentle and airy. it was something tadashi had never really noticed before.

“yea,” tadashi spun the ball in his hands as he spoke, “dad does that, he’s a bit over protective.”

“i think it’s nice.”

“yea,” tadashi nodded, smiling to himself, “it is.”

after that there was silence again for the next few blocks until they reached the park gates.

“so, i’ve gotta warn you,” tsukishima was the one to break the silence once again, “tetsu and bokuto are… something. kenma and akaashi usually keep them in check pretty well, but they’re still a lot sometimes."

“that’s fine, i had a couple of teammates like that in junior high — i kind of miss it.”

“alright, whatever you say,” tsukishima grinned and shook his head, “good luck.”

tadashi went to respond, but he was interrupted by a voice yelling from the volleyball courts that he and tsukishima were approaching.

“hey, kei!”

the owner of the voice stood in the center of the court with a ball tucked under one arm, the other up in the air waving to tsukishima and tadashi.

with an exasperated sigh, tsukishima smiled and waved back, “what’s up tetsurou?”

“not much,” ‘tetsurou’ grinned, and looked straight at tadashi, “see you got the balls to ask out your guy.”

quite honestly, tadashi was terrified. this guy was intimidating as hell. he didn’t know how tsukishima was this at ease around him.

but tadashi was determined not to show fear. he was pretty sure tetsurou would be able to smell it, “i’m yamaguchi, it’s nice to meet you.”

“yea, same to you. i’m kuroo,” kuroo stuck out his hand, and tadashi shook it, praying he didn’t screw up a  _ handshake _ of all things.

“that idiot over there is bokuto,” kuroo pointed to a tall broad shouldered guy with unnaturally light hair with black streaks in it, and two others — one with longer blonde hair and another with a dark curly mop on top of his head, “and those two are kenma and akaashi. they’re seniors at nekoma — where i graduated from last year — and fukurodani, where bo went.”

tadashi was greeted by a couple waves from the guys on the court — which he gladly returned, “thanks for letting me join you guys.”

“it’s no problem,” kuroo shrugged, “kei’s the one who asked if you could tag along anyways, so thank him.”

tadashi glanced over at tsukishima at this comment, finding that his face was starting to get pinkish, and he was staring kuroo down with a gaze that could kill.

“anyways,” kuroo chuckled, “i think bo might explode if we don’t start playing soon, so we should split teams up and get going.”

“sounds good to me,” tadashi was beginning to get comfortable quicker than he expected, and now that he was a little less terrified of the other guys, tadashi was really excited to play volleyball again. it had been too long.

⚘ ⚘ ⚘

walking home with tadashi from the restaurant they had gotten lunch at, kei felt  _ really happy. _

better than he had in a long time, really.

he just felt so comfortable around tadashi, and being with him made kei forget about everything in the best way possible.

things were quiet between them again — not necessarily because they didn’t have anything to talk about — but more due to the fact that they were both tired and sweaty from being in the hot sun for hours.

they just walked side-by-side, enjoying the feeling of the other person being close by.

when tadashi casually slipped his hand into kei’s — he nearly short circuited.

“thanks for inviting me today,” when kei looked over at tadashi he was staring straight ahead with a smile on his face and a slight blush on his cheeks, “i had a lot of fun.”

“i-i’m happy you had a good time,” kei stumbled over his words for a short moment before he was able to get them out, “it was no problem really.”

“yea, but still,” tadashi continued, “thanks.”

once more, the two fell into a comfortable silence as they walked the rest of the way to tadashi’s.

when they reached the door, kei found himself lingering in the entrance, not really wanting to let go of tadashi’s hand yet.

“i’ll talk to you later?” tadashi asked, untangling his fingers from kei’s as he reached for the doorknob.

“yea, talk to you later."

with that, tadashi turned around and headed into the sop, stopping to wave through the window with a grin. kei couldn’t help but smile to himself as he turned around to head back to his house.

it felt like nothing could spoil his good mood now — not even his mother.

when he made it to the front door he lingered for a moment before sighing and pushing it open, “i’m home.”

no answer came — not that it was surprising.

taking the stairs two at a time kei walked up to the landing — where the wilting purple flowers caught his eye.

his mom always forgot to water them.

she didn’t even try to hide the fact that she didn’t care.

kei dropped his backpack in the doorway of his room and picked up the flowers from the small table they sat on. he spent too much of his own money on them to let them just die.

he took them downstairs to the kitchen — where he stumbled across a situation he really could have gone without seeing.

his brother was in the kitchen with his girlfriend and they were making out — all tangled up in each other and that bullshit — right in front of the kitchen sink.

“really?” kei sighed, announcing his presence, “you have literally the whole basement teru.”

at the sound of his voice akiteru and saeko quickly pulled apart and turned towards kei — both startled and red in the face.

“jesus kei!” his brother squeaked, “a little warning?”

“you’re in the middle of the kitchen teru,” kei argued with a light chuckle at his older brother’s still squeaky voice.

“we are, babe,” saeko grinned at akiteru before turning to kei, “how are you tsukishima? it’s been a while.”

kei shrugged, “okay i guess.”

“where’ve you been all day?”

akiteru was the next to question him.

“wow, what is this, an interrogation?” kei joked as akiteru and saeko made room for him to get to the sink, “i was on a date.”

he tried to be casual about it, and just drop his whereabouts like it was no big deal as he turned on the water, but of course akiteru and saeko made it a big deal.

“a date?” saeko teased, “and we thought you hated everyone.”

“do not,” kei snorted, “just most people.”

“who is it?” akiteru chimed in — and kei couldn’t tell if he was actually serious or teasing him, “is he cute?”

“his name is yamaguchi —”

“oh,” saeko cut him off, “like that flower shop? yamaguchi greenhouses or something like that?”

kei nodded, “yea, his dad owns the place. but anyways, i met him a few weeks ago when i was getting mom’s gift. we’ve been studying for exams together lately — and we just got some lunch today.”

“you’re growing up so fast,” akiteru swooned. he was definitely teasing kei, “you’re finally getting a real boyfriend.”

“ugh,” kei groaned — though he couldn’t erase the smile from his face, “i’m heading upstairs. you two can continue whatever you’re doing.”

as he trudged up the stairs, kei could still hear akiteru’s voice from the kitchen yelling at him.

“someday you’ll want to do it too kei, just you wait!”

⚘ ⚘ ⚘

after saying his goodbyes to kei, tadashi walked into the flowershop with a giddy smile and with his heart beating at five times its normal rate.

“hey dad!”

“hey tadashi,” his dad looked up from sweeping the floor, leaning on the broom with a gentle smile, “how’d your date go?”

“so good!” tadashi dropped his backpack and his ball next to the counter before jupming up to sit on top of it, “tsukki’s friends are all  _ such good  _ players and it was so fun!”

“i’m happy you had a good time kiddo,” his dad grinned, “but you need to shower. you smell.”

tadashi had been planning on showering anyways, so that wasn’t an unreasonable or annoying request.

with a quick goodbye and a promise to be back down soon to start working, tadashi made his way up the stairs to his room to grab a change of clothes.

finally letting himself relax, tadashi collapsed face first into the pillows — giggling like some little kid who had eaten too much sugar.

this day had gone so much better than tadashi ever could have imagined.

playing with kei and kuroo and bokuto and the others was so fun and amazing and then he got to spend lunch with just kei and  _ ugh _ everything was just going so well.

just then — a thought popped into tadashi’s head.

was kei his boyfriend now? were they boyfriends now?

tadashi had never really had an actual boyfriend before, he wasn’t sure when that label started to apply.

was it after one date? or a few? or did they have to discuss it? oh, god. he hoped not.

after a few minutes of pondering this tadashi decided to save it for later and go take a shower. he felt disgusting.

⚘ ⚘ ⚘   
  


tadashi may have been questioning what label applied to his relationship with kei before, but now there was no doubt about it.

school had been out for kei for a few weeks now — and tadashi had taken his entrance exam again — so now that their schedules were freed up they had gone on a few more dates.

today though they were just hanging around the flower shop — it was too warm to really do much anyways.

when the bell on the door chimed to announce the arrival of a customer, tadashi was standing on the tables of flowers watering the hanging baskets while kei sat at the counter reading a book.

he had said something about summer reading and wanting to get ahead.

as soon as he heard the chime, tadashi hopped off the table and shut off the hose to greet whoever it was.

that whoever it was turned out to be the mailman.

“good morning young man,” the mailman greeted tadashi with a gentle smile, “i have a letter for tadashi?”

“that would be me,” tadashi grinned and took the envelope from the mailman, “thank you, have a nice day!”

as the guy walked back out the door, he tossed a quick ‘you too’ over his shoulder that tadashi barely heard because he was fixated on the sender’s name.

it was the principal of karasuno.

“tsukki oh my god,” he looked over to kei as he spoke, “it’s my exam results.”

“really?” kei looked up from his book and stepped out from behind the counter, “you’ve gotta open it.”

tadashi almost did — but then he froze.

“what if i didn’t pass?”

“i’m sure you did,” kei smiled, stepping closer to tadashi, “you studied your ass off for the exam.

tadashi was still unsure. he stared at the envelope in his hands for another few moments before kei stepped in.

“do you want me to open it for you?”

tadashi appreciated the offer — but he could do this himself, “no, i got it.”

with shaky hands — trying not to destroy the envelope too much — tadashi ripped it open and pulled out the paper inside of it, searching for a total score in the mess of words.

“oh my god, holy shit,” tadashi found the number quickly, at the bottom of the page, “i got a ninety-seven."

he turned towards kei, a giddy smile forcing its way onto his face, “i got a ninety-seven!”

before tadashi had a chance to say anything else, kei’s arms were gently around his waist, pulling him in close for a kiss.

the actual lip-on-lip contact was brief but it sent shivers down tadashi’s spine.

this was his first real kiss — and it was everything everyone always made it out to be.

he could feel his face warming up, and one look at kei’s told tadashi he was feeling the same. now that it happened and kei had kissed him tadashi wanted more. he wanted to feel that feeling he just felt over and over again.

so he ignored the butterflies that filled his stomach, and wrapped his arms around kei’s neck, bringing their lips together once more.

the paper with his exam results fluttered to the ground as tadashi laced his fingers together against the back of kei’s neck, and he couldn’t have cared any less.

tadashi knew that right in the middle of the shop wasn’t the place for this, but at the same time he didn’t care.

all that mattered in the moment was that he was close to kei, could feel his body up against his, kei’s glasses pressing into his face.

yet he still wanted to be closer.

it was then that tadashi started to feel a tightening sensation in his chest — and then he promptly realized that he forgot to breathe.

tadashi pulled back for air, and allowed his gaze to meet kei’s as his eyes opened once again. much like tadashi — kei wore a huge exhilarated grin on his face.

while tadashi was trying to catch his breath, his boyfriend (he was sure that was the word now) smiled even wider, “that was almost better than the test score.”

still kind of breathless, tadashi smiled up at him, “that was definitely better than the test score.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> and here we go!! chapter two! the next one probably won't be up this quickly but i was very excited to edit this chapter bc it makes me very happy :))) after this is where the conflict starts to kick in so ;) get ready y'all bc ur soft boys are about to get real sad


	3. Chapter 3

it had been a few days since the kiss, and tadashi still felt irrationally jumpy and uncomfortable around kei.

it wasn’t like he didn’t want to be around kei, or kiss him again or anything like that. he totally did. one-hundred percent.

he just… tadashi couldn’t tell if  _ kei  _ wanted to.

stupid, irrational worries filled his head now as he watered the hanging baskets, kneeling precariously on the edge of the table in an attempt to not crush the flowers sitting on top of it. what if tadashi had sucked? was he a bad kisser? what if kei realized once he kissed tadashi that he didn’t actually like him like that? and now he was gonna break up with him but couldn’t figure out how?

the bell on the door chiming quickly ripped him from the endless train of worries, and tadashi couldn’t be more thankful.

he needed a distraction.

“i’ll be with you in just a moment!”

he called out to the customer without turning around, he was pretty sure if he moved he’d fall and he didn’t really feel like falling on his ass in front of a complete stranger.

“you’re fine,” tadashi heard kei’s voice from behind him — and he wasn’t sure if kei was better than a complete stranger, “it’s just me.”

“oh, hey tsukki,” tadashi grinned and shut off the hose, climbing down off of the table.

“hey,” kei smiled and stepped closer to tadashi, placing his hands on tadashi’s hips to pull him closer. which resulted in his heart starting to beat at what felt like a mile a minute, “sorry i’m a little late today, the freak duo idiots talked me into staying after practice today.”

“it’s fine, i don’t mind.”

“okay,” kei paused for a moment, “are you alright? you’ve been jumpy lately.”

“y-yea, i’m fine,” tadashi forced a small smile as he looked up at his boyfriend. he hadn’t expected kei to ask about that, and the fact that he was concerned made tadashi beyond happy. but kei didn’t seem convinced, “i promise.”

“okay,” kei nodded, “but you know you can talk to me whenever you need to.”

tadashi nodded earnestly in response, “yea, of course.”

“good,” kei responded with a soft smile, and before tadashi had a chance to react, he kissed him.

the kiss only lasted a brief moment, but it still left that same feeling the first one had. when kei smiled at him afterwards tadashi couldn’t help but grin.

in response to the quick, almost teasing kiss, tadashi shifted his weight to his toes and closed the distance between his face and kei’s once more.

for just a few moments tadashi allowed his lips to linger there before dropping his heels back to the ground, wrapping his arms around kei’s torso and letting his head fall to rest on his boyfriend’s chest.

“you’re pretty great tsukki,” tadashi spoke softly — almost mumbling, “you know that?”

he heard kei chuckle, and then felt the weight of his chin resting on top of tadashi’s head.

“you’re not so bad yourself.”

⚘ ⚘ ⚘

kei had gone on a double date with hitoka and shimizu once. the girl he went with hated it — she claimed that kei paid more attention to hitka than her.

which wasn’t wrong, because he really had no interest in the girl. so he wasn’t exactly the most attentive when it came to her, instead opting for talking to someone he knew he was comfortable with.

so even though he knew that it was different this time kei was nervous.

shimizu had gotten them into a practice match of the team she helped manage, and they were all going out to dinner and then to go watch the match.

kei was excited — he had never been to a university level match before and he was getting to do it with tadashi.

he was standing in front of the mirror in a different shirt for what felt like the millionth time that night when his phone started to ring.

“kei,” the voice on the other end whined as he picked up — it was hitoka, “hurry up! shimizu and i are gonna leave without you!”

“sorry, sorry,” kei half-apologized as he pulled his shirt over his head, “i can’t figure out what to wear.”

“oh my god kei you’re  _ useless _ ,” hitoka laughed, and kei could hear shimizu in the background as well, “it doesn’t need to be anything special it’s literally just tadashi.”

“yea but we’re going on a  _ date _ ,” kei argued, hanging the shirt he just discarded back up in his closet, “last time we went out was volleyball with tetsurou and the guys. i wanna look nice this time.”

“like i said, useless,” kei could hear hitoka’s exasperated grin through the phone, “just wear some nicer shorts and a t-shirt.”

as hitoka spoke, kei made his way over to his dresser, pulling out a pair of shorts like she had suggested. finally, after he hung up and got changed, kei was on his way to tadashi’s to pick him up before heading to hitoka’s.

“kei.”

he was almost out the door when his mom called his name from the kitchen.

“where are you going?”

kei sighed and turned to face her, “i told you mom, i’m going to a volleyball match with some friends.”

“which friends?” his mom questioned further, “it’s not even volleyball season, why are you going to a match?”

“it’s a practice match,” kei explained with a subconscious roll of his eyes, “shimizu got hitoka and i in, she manages the team.”

“who’s shimizu?”

god, it was almost like kei was a suspect for murder with the way she questioned him.

“kiyoko-san, she managed our team last year. dark hair, glasses, always sat on the bench by the court.”

no response came from his mom besides a shake of her head. that wasn’t exactly a surprise — kei was pretty sure she hadn’t come to any matches.

“well, she and hitoka are close, so she invited me too. and i’m gonna be late, so can i go?”

“yea, fine, go ahead,” his mom waved him off — she obviously didn’t care anymore, “don’t be out too late. let me know if you stay at hitoka’s for a while.”

kei nodded, barely listening, and pushed the door open to leave as soon as he was allowed, “yea, i will. bye.”

there was no answer, so kei left, shutting the door behind him with more force than what was probably necessary.

⚘ ⚘ ⚘

“tsukishima-kun! tsukishima-kun!”

before kei had even gotten close to escaping the gym he had been trapped in for hours — he was called back to the court by a certain boisterous redhead.

“ugh, really hinata?”

when he turned around kei was greeted by the sight of hinata with a huge, innocent grin on his face, holding a volleyball, “please tsukki? i wanna work on my spikes some more! and the new quick!”

kei shook his head, “i’ve got somewhere to be, and i don’t wanna be stuck inside this oven of a gym any longer.”

hinata wasted no time in arguing his case, “come on, why no? i need to work against a blocker, you need to work on your blocking, and tobio-kun needs to work on his tosses. it’s a win-win-win situation!"

“except i don’t win, because I have to spend time with you idiots,” kei grinned and turned to head out the doors, “i’m gonna go before i’m late. have fun suffocating in here.”

there were some complaints from hinata, but he was quickly shut up by something kageyama said to him. kei couldn’t make it out, but he didn’t care. determined not to show up late, kei ran home. even though it was sunny and hot, and then proceeded to take what was likely the fastest shower he had ever taken in his life.

after getting dressed in clean, not sweaty clothes, he was out the door once more.

kei was hanging out with tadashi today — actually upstairs, not just down in the shop hanging out while he worked.

alone time, after the flower shop was closed and while tadashi’s dad was gone.

so, perfect really. there was no way he was going to give this up to practice blocking against the freak quick idiots.

when kei arrived, the door to the flower shop was locked, it was closed after all. so he stopped in front of it and pulled out his phone to text tadashi. a few minutes later, just as kei was considering calling, the door swung open into the shop and tadashi appeared in the doorway.

his face was red, and his hair was pulled back into a messy ponytail full of hair clips keeping his bangs at bay.

“hey,” he smiled at kei, “sorry i didn’t get down here sooner, my phone wasn’t on me.”

as he spoke tadashi stepped aside to allow kei to step into the flower shop — which he immediately noticed was much more humid than outside was.

he wasn’t even sure how tadashi was still alive.

“you’re fine,” kei spoke as he pulled tadashi in for a quick kiss, pulling the door shut behind them, “it’s so hot in here, how are you not dead?”

grinning, tadashi walked over to the door to the stairs, “i don’t know, luck i guess.”

the heat and humidity only got worse as they headed up the stairs, yet somehow tadashi remained unaffected by it.

kei, however, was almost willing to strip off his shirt to get away from the heat. almost.

“our air conditioning is broken, so that’s why its so hot,” tadashi explained as kei got ready to complain once more, “have you eaten dinner yet?”

kei shook his head, “no, have you?”

“no,” tadashi quickly did the same, “i was waiting for you.”

⚘ ⚘ ⚘

“i love you ‘dashi.”

tadashi was floored by this statement — it came out of nowhere. completely unprompted.

he just told kei he was waiting for him to make dinner —

“i-i love you too,” after a few moments tadashi’s brain kicked into gear and he was able to make himself respond.

“sorry,” kei shook his head, glancing down at the floor, “that was kind of random. sorry for making you feel weird.”

it had taken a moment to register, but tadashi was giddy. it was funny how just a simple few words such as  _ ‘i love you’ _ could bring such a smile to his face and warmth into his heart.

“no, no, you’re fine,” tadashi stepped forward towards kei without even thinking about it and placing a hand on the side of his face, “i love you.”

after he had a moment to think, tadashi was able to be more confident about his statement. he was sure of it. tadashi loved kei.

with his hands gently on tadashi’s hips, kei pulled him closer to press their lips together. tadashi could feel kei smile, which only made him want to grin more.

“i love you so much kei,” he mumbled again into his boyfriend’s lips as he held him close, enjoying the feeling of the words.

“i love you too dashi.”

⚘ ⚘ ⚘

akiteru and kei’s mom were fighting again.

of course.

ever since kei’s older brother decided to move back in this happened more and more often. to the point where it barely fazed him anymore.

kei would just shove his headphones over his ears and tune it out. he didn’t really care enough to listen into what they were always fighting over anyways.

kei was doing just that, laying in bed and listening to music when he got the text message. it was from tadashi.

_ hey can u come over?? _

the message was short, and lacking tadashi’s usual cheerful demeanor the shone through even over text. that worried kei.

it worried him a lot.

so he typed up a quick response and shoved his phone in his pocket, bracing himself to go downstairs and enter the war zone. he thought he was going to be able to get out safely because his mom and akiteru were in the kitchen, but kei couldn’t have been more wrong.

his shoes were on and tied and kei was reaching for the doorknob when he heard his mom’s voice from behind him.

his heart dropping into his stomach, kei let his hand fall from the doorknob.

“where the hell are you going?”

before kei had a chance to think about a response akiteru was storming out from the kitchen, “why does it matter? just let him fucking leave. you don’t even care, you’re just a control freak who wants to be in charge of everything. even your fucking seventeen year old kid who can clearly take care of himself, because you haven’t done shit for him!”

“stay out of this,” kei’s mom snapped back at her older son, “i have the right to know where my son is going when it’s this late.”

then she turned back to kei and he was in her crosshairs once more, “where are you going? where could you even need to be?”

“anywhere but here,” kei mumbled, pushing the door open to leave..

but he was stopped by a hand on his arm.

“i want you to tell me where the hell you’re going.”

“fine, you really want to know?”

kei really wished he had taken a moment to think before he said what he did next. or slipped out while akiteru was monologuing. it would’ve saved him a whole lot of trouble.

“i’m heading over to my boyfriend’s place to make sure he doesn’t fucking  _ kill himself. _ ”

the shock of his statement — no matter how much kei might have regretted it — was enough for him to wriggle out of his mom’s grasp and get out of the house.

the relief when she didn’t follow him was overwhelming — so much so that kei simply collapsed into sobs on their front porch, burying his face in his hands as his shoulders began to shake and his chest seized up.

everything was ruined now — he was sure of it.

kei was completely fucked.

the worst part of it all was that it was  _ his fault. _ kei himself told her — he ruined his own life.

he could hear akiteru arguing with his mom once more through the door — but this time kei was the topic of the argument. so, sick of hearing it, kei got up, wiped the tears from his face, and started on his way down the sidewalk to… somewhere. he wasn’t sure where yet.

he needed a few minutes to calm down and get his shit together before he went over to tadashi’s. so he just wandered. his issues didn’t have a place in their relationship — tadashi had enough going on to worry about.

once he felt composed enough to face his boyfriend — kei turned down the sidewalk and made his way towards tadashi’s.

as he walked, kei kept his gaze fixated on his shoes, on the laces that had come untied on his left shoe, the plastic on the ends skittering across the pavement with every step. the whole way to the flower shop kei was in a daze. he just… he just couldn’t wrap his mind around the reality of the situation.

of course, he wasn’t dumb. this wasn’t a surprise. kei knew his mother’s opinions. there was a reason she didn’t know that hitoka was a lesbian, despite his friend’s very open and proud nature. if his mother knew kei would never be allowed to speak to hitoka again.

but he always planned to just stick out until university.

he had kept bigger things hidden before.

coming out to his mom in a moment of poor judgement was mentioned nowhere in his game plan.

so adjusting was a little hard to get used to.

finally, after what felt like ages of roaming the dark sidewalks, kei made it to the door of the flower shop. it was locked, obviously, so kei pulled out his phone to text tadashi.

what he saw on the screen made his heart jump into his throat.

there was another text, right below kei’s response. it was such a shock to his system that he could barely comprehend it.

but essentially tadashi was fine. kei freaked out and overreacted and ruined his life for what? for the slightest hint his boyfriend showed that he might not be okay.

of fucking course.

kei just had to keep doing dumb shit on the slightest whims, didn’t he.

he typed out a quick message to tadashi, shoving his phone back into his pocket and tilting his head towards the sky as he blinked back tears. kei was surprised he kept the waterworks at bay for as long as it took for tadashi to be at the door.

“hey,” at first, tadashi was smiling. bright and happy. one look at kei, however, and that expression faded into concern, “hey, are you okay?”

those three words,  _ ‘are you okay’ _ , were enough to break kei.

⚘ ⚘ ⚘

kei was crying in his arms — and tadashi had no idea what to do.

his boyfriend was inconsolable, sobbing and sniffling into tadashi’s shirt. mumbling something that he couldn’t understand,. completely incoherent. all tadashi could do was hold tightly to him while he cried, one hand gently stroking his hair as the other held firmly to kei’s shuddering shoulders. 

eventually though, the shaking ceased, and tadashi could feel kei relaxing in his arms.

when he lifted his face from tadashi’s shoulder, kei’s complexion was red and his nose swollen. tears still dripped slowly down his cheeks, but the force was nowhere near what it had been minutes ago.

“what happened?”

it took a few moments of silence — save the occasional sniffle from kei — for tadashi to receive a response. though he wasn’t sure how much of a response it was. kei was still a mumbling mess.

“i— i fucking—” kei paused once more, burying his face in his hands, “my mom, i… i—”

that was when tadashi’s boyfriend fell back into his arms, just as broken and in pieces as before.

some amount of time later — tadashi wasn’t sure how long, he didn’t bother to check the clock — he found himself sitting at the kitchen table with a now calmed down kei and his dad.

“i’m sorry,” kei mumbled apologetically, holding tightly to tadashi’s hand, “it’s late, and you guys should be sleeping.”

“kei, it’s fine,” tadashi responded almost reflexively, “don’t worry about it.”

“we don’t mind kid,” his dad continued, “just talk to us,we know how much this stuff sucks.”

“i…” kei paused once more, “i told my mom tonight. by accident, but she still knows. i don’t know what she’s gonna do about it, but still…”

this was the first kei had spoken coherently of what happened that night to make him as upset as he was.

tadashi had never realized just how bad things were for kei with his mom. he just assumed — because kei got her a gift for mother’s day — that things were fine. he knew he shouldn’t have assumed, he knew probably better than anybody that things aren’t always as they seem, but he still never realized.

“it’s really not a big deal,” kei continued, shaking his head and obviously trying to downplay the severity of the situation, “i just kind of freaked is all.”

“are you sure?” tadashi’s dad spoke once more, gentle as usual, “you can tell me if something’s really wrong.”

kei simply nodded, and stood up all too quickly, “thanks for the offer, but i’m good. i should… get home. it’s getting late.”

tadashi really didn’t want kei to leave — he was scared for him — but forcing kei was not a viable option. it would do no good.

“just, call me if you need anything,” tadashi stood up as well, stepping towards kei, “okay?”

kei nodded and stepped forward to wrap his arms around tadashi’s shoulders, “i will.”

after a long, lingering moment, kei moved back, “i really should go though.”

“yea,” tadashi nodded, “i’ll talk to you tomorrow?”

“yea,” kei returned the gesture, and turned around, “talk to you tomorrow.”

as tadashi watched kei’s retreating figure, he just couldn’t shake the feeling of unease that sat deep in his belly like a rock.

“hey, dashi,” tadashi’s dad placed a hand on his shoulder, “kei’s gonna be alright.”

“i know. i just get worried."

**Author's Note:**

> i can't believe i'm finally starting to post this thing ahh!! i've been working on rewriting this beast of a project for almost a year, and i couldn't be happier with the improvement!! i hope y'all will stick around for the next chapters that will be posted as soon as i get them typed up bc i'm super proud of this


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